Jeffersonville, Ind., based American Commercial Lines Inc. (Nasdaq: ACLI) is to sell its interests in ACBL Venezuela, LTD and GMS Venezuela, C.A.

It has reached an agreement that will see a consortium of Venezuelan businessmen take control of its barge, towboat and related assets that are used to provide barging services on the Orinoco River in Venezuela.

The sales price is approximately $32 million and the transaction is expected to close on October 31, 2006.

Richard A. Mitchell, Jr., ACL's Senior VP, Corporate Strategy, stated, "We are very pleased to have taken this important step in executing our business strategy. This transaction divests us of substantially all of our remaining international assets which contributed approximately $6.6 million of EBITDA in 2005. The net proceeds from this transaction will be used to further reduce our debt."

President and CEO, Mark R. Holden provided, "This transaction makes sense for the company. While our Venezuelan operations have served us well in the past, they were no longer core to our strategy going forward. This transaction will allow the ACL management team to focus its efforts on opportunities for domestic growth. We wish to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to our Venezuelan personnel for their years of dedicated service."